Traumatic injuries typically occur away from medical facilities. Thus, the victim must be transported from the site where the injury occurred, such as a battlefield or a roadside, to the medical facility for treatment. During this ‘short term’ period, for example, transportation from the site to the facility, it may be best to keep the wound closed, as much as possible, and even covered, if possible, to prevent, for example, ingress of contaminants, or to facilitate treatment.
Two such devices have been proposed, they are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,384 discloses a suture less closure device. The device has a tie strip with an anchor affixed at one end of the strip and a slide lockably engaged on the strip. The anchor is affixed to the skin on one side of the incision and the slide is affixed to the skin on the other side on the other side of the incision. The incision is closed by pulling the strip through the slide and locking the strip in the slide.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D652145 discloses a wound closure device. The device has two wound closure clips and a strip therebetween.
While these devices may be used in the situations discussed above, improvements are needed. Those improvements include, but are not limited to, ease of operation, compactness, reduced weight, fewer pieces, rapid deployment, and versatility, to mention a few.
Accordingly, the invention, discussed below, addresses and improves upon, at least, the issues mentioned above.